In order to ensure the particularly desired performance characteristic such as igniting voltage, response time, static response voltage and dynamic response voltage, extinction voltage and glow operating voltage in discharge paths such as ignition gaps or overvoltage diverters filled with inert gas, various measures such as the structural design of the electrodes, the type and pressure of the gas filling and the selection of the activation compound applied to the active surfaces of the electrodes must be adjusted to one another. To produce definitive ignition conditions, it is also customary in this connection to arrange one or several ignition strips on the inside wall of the glass or ceramic insulator and a special ionization source may be provided, if necessary. Thus, for instance, a conventional overvoltage diverter has two electrodes inserted into the front ends of a ceramic insulator, the electrode surfaces facing each other being coated with an activation compound, the latter being arranged in depressions in the electrode surface. Several ignition strips extending in the axial direction of the ceramic insulator are arranged on the inside wall, the ignition strips being designed as middle ignition strips without a direct connection to the electrodes (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,260 corresponding to German Patent No. 28 28 650 C2). It is more customary to apply an additional ionization source in the form of a punctiform deposit of a radioactive material on the inside wall of the insulator in gas-filled overvoltage diverters which are located in a space sealed off against the ionization source in the form of a punctiform deposit of a radioactive material on the inside wall of the insulator in gas-filled overvoltage diverters which are located in a space sealed off against the effect of external light during their operation. Alternatively, the gas filling of the overvoltage diverter may include a radioactive gas (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,715). In order to ensure a very low ignition delay in gas-filled overvoltage diverters in the dark space, the use of an electroluminescent material as an additional ionization source is also known, the electroluminescent material being applied to the inside wall of the insulator as a coating connecting the two electrodes of the diverter (see German Patent No. 43 18 944 C2).